County budget proposal starts with 4.5 percent tax increase

AUBURN -- Cayuga County Manager Wayne Allen released a tentative 2009 county budget proposal Thursday afternoon that would raise the overall tax levy by 4.5 percent.

The increased tax levy comes even as the county raised expenditures by a minimum, he said. The proposed total expenditures for 2009 are $139,122,767, up $1,107,054 from last year's $138,015,713. This is an increase of less than 1 percent.

"That's pretty remarkable right there and in this day and age, I have to give (credit to) department heads who understand the message that was given out that they needed to be fiscally prudent and justify what they were doing and hold the line and all costs ... they achieved that goal," Allen said.